Cali vs Sao Paulo - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 11, 2026

	Cali	Sao Paulo
🚶 Cost of living one person	$829	$1115
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2097	$2824
🏠 One person rent	$318	$537
🏘️ Family rent	$542	$943
🍽️ Food expenses	$288	$318
🚐 Transport expenses	$131	$147
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$453	$794
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	19 km	5 km
🎓 Higher education	47	96
😀 Quality of life	60	74
🏙️ Population	2.47M	11.5M

The cost of living in Cali is 26% less expensive than in Sao Paulo. Cities ranked 6645th and 5003rd ($829 vs $1115) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 14th and 1st in Colombia and Brazil, respectively. Check Colombia vs Brazil comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Cali compared to 0.7 months in Sao Paulo. Cali ranked 4th best city to live in Colombia vs Sao Paulo ranked 1st in Brazil, while ranked 5917th and 2408th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

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Prices in Cali vs Sao Paulo

Prices for goods and services in Cali and Sao Paulo are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Cali	Sao Paulo
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.79	$7.85
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$26.7	$38.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.04	$7.52
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.59	$2.45
☕ Cappuccino	$2.63	$2.66
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.23	$1.26
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$300	$631
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$220	$419
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$555	$1111
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$396	$769
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$57.7	$56.1
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$89.1	$85.4
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$24.5	$19.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.68%	11.97%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1099	$2842
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$890	$2178
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.86	$1
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$31.5	$49.2
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$14.9	$7.86
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.13	$1.15
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.46	$1.13
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.53	$1.63
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$1.28
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.75	$2.81
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.7	$12.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.9	$5.07
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.97	$10.3
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.89	$2.7
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.09	$1.82
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$1.63
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.36	$1.86
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.97	$1.34
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.18	$1.18
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.56	$0.54
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.09	$2.25
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$13.3	$9.77
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.24	$1.45
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.92	$2.76
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$6.52	$5.92
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.89	$3.82
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.27	$1.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.8	$1.29
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$25.2	$31.9
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.06	$8.87
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.2	$55.2
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.39	$11.3
👖 Brand Jeans	$66.1	$61.4
👟 Brand Sneakers	$101	$105
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$256	$494
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6650	$16798

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cali

Distance	City	Cost of living
27 km or 17 mi	Palmira	$746
74 km or 46 mi	Buenaventura	$825
80 km or 50 mi	Tulua	$537
111 km or 69 mi	Popayan	$606
148 km or 92 mi	Neiva	$592
154 km or 96 mi	Armenia	$719
160 km or 100 mi	Cartago	$738
170 km or 105 mi	Salento	$709
178 km or 111 mi	Pereira	$789
184 km or 114 mi	Ibague	$529
213 km or 132 mi	Girardot	$547
214 km or 133 mi	Manizales	$717
227 km or 141 mi	Florencia	$514
251 km or 156 mi	Quibdo	$757
262 km or 163 mi	Pasto	$637
285 km or 177 mi	Facatativa	$777
285 km or 177 mi	Soacha	$919
301 km or 187 mi	Bogota	$1062
308 km or 192 mi	Tumaco	$663
316 km or 196 mi	Ipiales	$640
321 km or 200 mi	Envigado	$992
329 km or 204 mi	Medellin	$1071
330 km or 205 mi	Villavicencio	$575
330 km or 205 mi	Zipaquira	$813
339 km or 210 mi	Bello	$915
386 km or 240 mi	Ibarra	$569
421 km or 261 mi	Tunja	$667
446 km or 277 mi	Esmeraldas	$613
463 km or 288 mi	Quito	$902
469 km or 291 mi	Duitama	$1019
471 km or 293 mi	Sogamoso	$614
500 km or 311 mi	Barrancabermeja	$1040
504 km or 313 mi	Yopal	$750
506 km or 314 mi	Santo Domingo	$598
518 km or 322 mi	Turbo	$764
554 km or 344 mi	Floridablanca	$744
556 km or 346 mi	Bucaramanga	$754
571 km or 354 mi	Ambato	$538
595 km or 369 mi	Quevedo	$656
596 km or 370 mi	Monteria	$703

Cities near Sao Paulo

Distance	City	Cost of living
12 km or 7.3 mi	Sao Caetano do Sul	$795
13 km or 8.3 mi	Taboao da Serra	$754
14 km or 8.6 mi	Guarulhos	$753
15 km or 9.4 mi	Diadema	$753
16 km or 9.7 mi	Santo Andre	$742
16 km or 10 mi	Osasco	$782
17 km or 11 mi	Sao Bernardo do Campo	$699
21 km or 13 mi	Carapicuiba	$645
22 km or 14 mi	Maua	$746
23 km or 15 mi	Caieiras	$741
25 km or 15 mi	Embu das Artes	$753
25 km or 16 mi	Barueri	$883
26 km or 16 mi	Mairipora	$724
26 km or 16 mi	Franco da Rocha	$752
27 km or 17 mi	Ferraz de Vasconcelos	$687
28 km or 17 mi	Jandira	$750
29 km or 18 mi	Ribeirao Pires	$716
29 km or 18 mi	Itapecerica da Serra	$754
30 km or 18 mi	Poa	$684
30 km or 18 mi	Cotia	$841
30 km or 19 mi	Itaquaquecetuba	$723
31 km or 19 mi	Itapevi	$700
31 km or 19 mi	Santana de Parnaiba	$741
32 km or 20 mi	Francisco Morato	$753
33 km or 20 mi	Itanhaem	$715
33 km or 20 mi	Cajamar	$741
36 km or 22 mi	Embu-Guacu	$727
36 km or 22 mi	Aruja	$713
41 km or 26 mi	Campo Limpo Paulista	$739
43 km or 26 mi	Varzea Paulista	$737
44 km or 27 mi	Cubatao	$695
45 km or 28 mi	Mogi das Cruzes	$789
48 km or 30 mi	Jundiai	$783
49 km or 30 mi	Atibaia	$651
51 km or 32 mi	Sao Roque	$725
52 km or 32 mi	Sao Vicente	$655
55 km or 34 mi	Santos	$882
56 km or 35 mi	Praia Grande	$691
61 km or 38 mi	Bertioga	$703
61 km or 38 mi	Ibiuna	$719